Love is like Magic
by With a freaking y
Summary: This is my first fanfic here on. It's about Dave Tango, a ghost investigator on the show Ghost Hunters on Syfy, and my own original character, MacKenzie O'Connor. Reviews are appreciated!
1. Info & Chapter 1

Name - MacKenzie O'Connor

Nickname - MacKenny, Kenny

Age – 21

Looks – Light brown, slightly curly hair; mossy green eyes; naturally tan skin; athletically built; around 5'4" and weighs about 128 lbs.

Piercings -3 in each ear (2 in the earlobe and1cartlige (sp?)) and her naval

Tattoos- A music note behind her right ear (like Brooke Hogan),a huge gothic cross that takes up her whole back, Forgive on her left inner wrist, and Forget on her right inner wrist.

Family- Donovan O'Connor (Her father; Irish), Carmen de la Cruz (Her mother; Spanish), Samuel "Sammy" O'Connor (Her oldest brother), Matthew "Matt" O'Connor (Her 2nd oldest brother), Nicholas "Nick" and Nathaniel "Nate" O'Connor (Her twin brothers; Nick is older than Nate)

Fears- Spiders, snakes, heights, and other moving cars (yes, I know it's weird)

More about her- She lived in London, England till she was 13. Everyone lived in her aunt's (her father's sister) house. Her aunt died when MacKenzie was 10. She was and still is fully interested in ghosts and other paranormal beings (like demons and stuff like that). She is no longer Christian and turned Wiccan when she was 15 years old.

* * *

MacKenzie walked down the main street in Warwick, Rhode Island. Finally she came to place she was looking for...TAPS.

She opened the door, which rang of set of bells on the inside handle, and walked in.

"Can I help you?" a girl asked. She had red-brown hair and green eyes, she looked around MacKenzie's age.

"Yeah. Are Grant Wilson and Jason Hawes here today?" MacKenzie asked walked over to where the lady sat.

"No. They're probably working for Roto-Rooters right now. They usually get back at around 3 or something like that," she said. "May I ask who you are?"

"Oh! I'm MacKenzie O'Connor. I just stopped by because I was wondering about a job opening," she said.

"Why here? I mean there is a McDonald's up the street," the girl said a little curious.

"I used to work there but I quit. Their hours sucked for me because it was usually a 4 hour day then nada. One day they actually worked my friend 1 hour!

"But I wanna work here because I'm extremely interested in paranormal things. Especially after my aunt died," she explained.

"Oh. Well, I'm Kris Williams," the girl said smiling.

"Hey Kris, who you talking to?" someone asked before they even entered the room.

Suddenly a guy walked into the room. He was wearing a TAPS hat and his arms were full of tattoos.

"This is MacKenzie O'Connor. She wants to talk to Jay and Grant about a job here," Kris said.

MacKenzie smiled and raised her hand out for him to shake it, "MacKenzie O'Connor, you are?"

"Steve Gonsalves, the tech specialist here at TAPS," he replied. "Nice tats."

She smiled, "Your's are pretty sweet, too. I do have more, you know. Once you get one, you have to have more,"

Steve smiled when she said, "Yeah, I know that feeling."

She turned a little so that she was facing Kris, "Uh... Kris? Can you tell them that I stopped by?"

"Yeah. Do you wanna leave your name and number?" Kris asked politely.

"Sure. Do you have a pen and a piece of paper?" she asked.

Kris searched a little around her desk and found a piece of paper she didn't need and pen from some sewage company, "Here you are."

"Thanks," MacKenzie said. She quickly wrote down her home phone number and her name.

"I have to do more stuff. It was nice meeting you MacKenzie," Steve said and left the lobby.

"I also have to go. I can't let my brothers destroy my house," MacKenzie said. "It was nice meeting you."

"Yeah, same here. They should call sometime today," Kris said.

"Thanks, once again." MacKenzie replied and walked out of the building.

~Later on~

MacKenzie was sitting in her living room eating her late dessert when the phone rang. Everyone else was either in the kitchen or with her in the living room.

"I got it!" Nick said from inside the kitchen. "Hello...No, I'm her brother...Yeah, I'll get her...MacKenzie! Some guy's on the phone for you!"

MacKenzie rolled her eyes at his rudeness and got up. She walked over to the kitchen and took the phone from him.

"Hello?"

"Is this MacKenzie O'Connor?" a male voice answered.

"Yeah, who's this?"

"Jason Hawes from TAPS,"

"Oh, hi!"

"Are you busy tomorrow?"

"No, why?"

"Grant and I were wondering if we could speak with you tomorrow around 2 in the afternoon,"

"Cool. Where?"

"Will Mickey D's be a problem?" he asked.

"Not at all, I'll see you then," MacKenzie said smiling.

"Yep. Bye."

"Bye," she said before hanging up the phone.

"What was that all about?" Sam asked from the living room.

"I have a job interview tomorrow at McDonald's," she replied practically dancing to her chair again.

"Didn't you work there before?" Nate asked.

"Yes, but this is with a different place," MacKenzie said.

"When's it gonna be?" Matt asked.

"Haha, nice try. I'm not allowing my brothers to crash my interview. I really want this job," MacKenzie said turning around toward the stairs. "I am going to bed. So g'night guys."

"G'night MacKenny," Sam replied. It seemed that he was the only one that truely cared because all her other brothers just grunted or waved their hands at her.

She walked into her room, which was basically all black with paint ball prints all over the place. She changed into a white wife beater and a pair of purple striped lounge pants and walked into her adjoining bathroom. She brushed her teeth and pulled her hair back into a messy bun, before reentering her room. She crawled into her bed and slowly let sleep consume her body.


	2. Chapter 2

MacKenzie woke up with a jolt as her twin older brothers jumped on her and her bed.

"What the hell?! Can't you see I'm trying to sleep here?!" she yelled very annoyed. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand and screamed, "OH MY GOD! Guys! Its 6:30!"

"G'morning sis! Time for breakfast! We want egg sandwiches," Nick said with an evil smile on his face.

MacKenzie glared at him, but nonetheless got up with a little difficulty. She walked down the stairs and turned on the lights in the kitchen. She walked in, grabbed the frying pan, turned on the stove, and put the pan on it. "Egg sandwiches, right?" She asked getting the eggs out of the fridge.

"Yep," Nate said sitting down in a chair and put his feet up on the table.

"That is so sanitary, Nate," MacKenzie said glancing over at them while she scrambled the eggs in a small bowl. She poured the eggs into the frying pan after she put non-stick vegetable oil on it.

Finally she made their sandwiches and left them to messily eat them. She went to her room and took a shower in her adjoining bathroom. She then changed into a gray tee shirt with some design on it that she had gotten from Hot Topic, faded blue jeans that had holes on the knees, and her black converses that she had for about three years. She brushed her hair in a ponytail and put on some black eyeliner.

"Wake up, its 9:00!" Sam said through her door.

"I am! The assholes we call brothers woke me up at 6:30!" MacKenzie shouted as she grabbed her phone off her nightstand, which sat next to her alarm clock.

She walked down to the kitchen again and made Sam his breakfast, while Matt decided to eat cereal.

~Later on~

The day went pretty slow but it finally reached 1:45 PM.

She quickly grabbed her keys and went out to her red 2005 Mustang and got in. She pulled out of the driveway and drove down the road to McDonald's. About 5 minutes later, she pulled into the McDonald's parking lot. She got out and went into the classic red-roofed building.

"Hey Kenny! The usual?" her former co-worker, Jaime Lee, said.

"Yeah," she said and paid for her food. She sat down and began eatting.

Just as she was finishing her food, 2 guys walked in. One was bald and had a facial hair. The second man was thinner than the first and had brown hair.

"Are you MacKenzie O'Connor?" the first one asked.

"Yes," MacKenzie said, throwing away her trash.

"I'm Jason Hawes, founder and lead investigator of TAPS," the first guy said.

"Grant Wilson, co-founder and lead investigator of TAPS," the second guy said.

MacKenzie shook both their hands and allowed them to sit down at her table.

"We are on limited time. We have an emergency appointment at 3. So let's get started. Why do you wanna with TAPS?" Jason said.

"I've always been interested in the paranormal and it's basically one of my major passions," MacKenzie said.

"One of your passions?" Grant said looking at her, confused.

"I love music and that's my numero uno passion," MacKenzie replied.

"Then why don't you work at FYE?"

"I've worked everywhere in Warwick, including the mall in downtown Providence," MacKenzie said. "They didn't like that I wasn't very talkative to the customers,"

"Okay, what annoys you the most?"Jason asked.

"Haha, most likely my twin brothers. They and my other2 other brothers live with me at my place," she said half-laughing at the answer.

"Do you have any fears?" Grant asked.

"Oh yeah? Spiders, heights, snakes, and sadly i have a fear of other moving cars, "MacKenzie said.

"Other moving cars?" Grant said in a "WTF" tone.

"Yeah... I've been afraid of them since I took driver's Ed in high school. They don't do what they are supposed to, so I fear them. Kinda silly, I guess," MacKenzie explained.

Jason laughed a little and glanced at his watch, "Well, we got to go. Can you stop by the TAPS headquarters tomorrow?"

"Uh yeah, when?"

"Anytime, Roto-rooters allowed us to have off, so yeah," Jason said.

MacKenzie nodded and stood up. She shook their hands again, "See ya tomorrow then. I got to goal so, my brothers might burn the house down if they notice I'm not there to feed them,"

Grant chuckled at the comment, "See ya tomorrow then."

They then left and MacKenzie went to back to her house.


	3. Chapter 3

MacKenzie woke up instinctively and realized immediately that her brothers didn't wake her up. She rolled on her side and looked at the clock, 10:59 AM.

"Where the hell is everyone?!" she yelled while storming down the stairs. She walked into the kitchen, no one. She checked the living room, no one also. She checked their rooms and all of them were empty.

"Where the hell are they?!" she muttered and went to her room. She grabbed her phone and speed-dialed Sam.

"Hello?" his voice said at the other end of the line. It sound like his mouth was somewhat full.

"Sammy, where the hell are you? Why didn't you wake me up this morning?" she yelled into the speaker.

"Uh...Me and the others decided to give you a break this morning and went to I-HOP."

"And you didn't wake up me up to go with you? What the fuck is wrong with you?" MacKenzie said little calmer but still in a loud voice.

"Sorry! God, we were only being nice!" Sam yelled and hung up. MacKenzie stared in shock at her phone. A cold wave of guilt washed of her as she realized what she had done.

"God damn it!" she yelled, throwing her phone at the wall in anger. She grabbed her clothes and walked into her bathroom.

She stood in the shower for over an hour letting the warm water wash over her. Finally, she finished and changed in her clothes. She did her hair and decided skip with the makeup. She walked out into her room and looked at her once useable phone.

She went into the kitchen and grabbed her keys. She locked the house and got in her car. She drove the 2 minute drive to TAPS, even though it took like 10 minutes to get there by foot.

She pulled into the parking lot and got out. She locked her doors and went inside the tan bricked building.

"Hey!" Kris said like they've known each other for years.

"Hi."

Almost immediately, Kris noticed that something was wrong, "MacKenzie? Is everything okay?"

MacKenzie looked at the brown-headed girl, "Is it that obvious?" She always hated that she could never lie about anything.

"Sorta," Kris said nodding. "What's wrong?"

"I don't really wanna talk about it," MacKenzie murmured and walked past Kris, "It's something very stupid,"

Once she got a chance to look around the room, she noticed that Steve and some other guy were there as well. He had a hat on and wore a zip-up hoodie and beat up jeans.

"Hey MacKenzie, should I get Jay and Grant?" Steve asked.

"Please and thank you," MacKenzie said smiling.

Steve got up and walked into a room that was adjoined into the lobby room.

"Hi, name's MacKenzie O'Connor," she said holding her hand out.

"Dave Tango. People call me Tango," he replied shaking her hand.

"Cool," MacKenzie said smiling. Steve had reentered the room and was now sitting in the spot that he had been sitting in before MacKenzie had arrived.

"MacKenzie?" Grant's voice came from her right side.

"Hey," MacKenzie said looking his way.

"Can we talk to you again?" he asked motioning to the same room that Steve had gone into.

"Sure," MacKenzie said following him. "Into the pit of doom. Bwahahaha!"

Grant snorted a little trying to hold in his laughter.

"Take a seat please," Jason said pointing to a very ugly sea foam green chair that was right beside the door. She sat down and looked around the messy, yet somewhat organized office.

"Uh... Am I in trouble? Because if I am let me remind you that I don't even work for you," MacKenzie asked in a mock nervous voice.

"No, you're not in trouble. We just wanna begin another interview from where we left off yesterday," Jason said smiling at her comment.

"Sweet,"

"Okay, if you had to guess, which you are now what type of equipment are you an expert in?" Grant asked.

"Oh joy; I am not an expert in any equipment really. But I barely know anything about TVs and computers but I'm pretty sure that I could learn if someone teachs a little thing or two."

"Okay, next question. Are you willing to travel across the country?" Jason asked.

"I don't see a problem with it. I personally love travelling and stuff like that,"

"Name something that will stop you from doing so,"

"Usually my brothers," MacKenzie said holding her emotions back. The fight that she had with Sam was still fresh in her mind and she really didn't anyone to know about it.

"Can you describe yourself in one word?" Grant asked.

"No...If you can describe yourself in word then you're too dull in life," MacKenzie said looking both men in the eye.

Jason nodded as if somewhat agreeing with her answer. Grant looked at her in shocked, but nonetheless, had to agree with her. Deep inside, MacKenzie was also shocked; she never knew that she could be that poetic.

"Do you want to wait out in the lobby? We'll be out in a minute," Jason said.

MacKenzie walked out of the messy room and sat down in a spinny chair next to Steve.

"So?" Steve asked.

"They're deliberating," MacKenzie said while spinning around the room. "This is fun,"

"And I thought you were bad," Jason said talking to Grant but loud enough for MacKenzie to hear. They walked out of their office and stood in the middle of the room.

"Okay MacKenzie. When can you start?"

"ASAP," she said. Her heart was pounding non-stop into her rib cage.

"Okay you start tomorrow at 9 AM," Jason said.

MacKenzie was still at first but then it was like someone flipped a switch inside her, she jumped up and did a little victory dance. She then jumped at Jason and Grant, hugging them they couldn't breathe anymore.

"Thank you sooooooo much!" MacKenzie said almost in tears. "Okay, I'm good." She blinked the soon-to-be tears away, still giddy inside. "Well, I have to go sadly. I need to patch things up with someone,"

"Okay, see ya tomorrow. Remember 9 o' clock sharp," Grant said as she went out the door.

"See ya guys! And thank you once again,"

"Don't be thanking us just yet," Jason said in an evil voice. MacKenzie gulped a little as she got into her car.

'Please be home,' she thought as she drove out of the parking lot and onto the street.


	4. Chapter 4

MacKenzie pulled into her driveway next to a black Land Rover. She got out of her car and into the house as fast as she could.

"Sammy!" she shouted as she set her keys on the kitchen counter, "Sammy?!"

"Shut up! You're giving me a headache!" Nick yelled. MacKenzie glared over at him.

"You! I need to talk to Sammy!" she shouted. She stormed out of the kitchen into the living room where Nate and Matt sat watching TV, "Where's-?"

"Upstairs," they said in unison. MacKenzie walked up the stairs and down the hall. She walked up to the last door on the right.

"Sammy?" MacKenzie said through the door and knocked quietly. There was no answer. "Sammy?" she asked again this time a little louder.

"Go away," someone mumbled inside in an irritated voice.

"Sammy, you know I won't leave," MacKenzie said shaking the door handle, which turned out to be locked. "You also know that I can break into your room,"

"I said go away,"

"Is this about this morning? Cause I didn't mean to get pissy with you! It just... it just scared me when I found the house empty. There was no note or anything. It just freaked me out. I really, truly, thought that you guys abandoned me here...by myself," MacKenzie said now standing beside the door. She could hear his footsteps as he walked quickly to the door. It unlocked and Sam stood there with an astonished and almost angry look on his face.

"God damn it, MacKenzie! You know better than anyone that we could never...NEVER do that to you. This is our home and we ain't leaving it till you kick us out," he said pointing a finger at MacKenzie like he was scolding her for something she did wrong.

Tears welled up in her eyes for the second time that day as she heard Sam say that. She wrapped her arms around him, catching him off guard.

"I love you, Sammy," she said but the moment was ruined by...

"Awww!" Nick said in a girly voice.

"I just love happy endings," Nate said acting like he was crying wildly at a sappy love movie.

MacKenzie rolled her eyes and went into her room.

~The Next Day~

MacKenzie, once again, got squished awake, but this time by ALL her brothers.

"Get off me you fags!" she screamed as she miserably tried to push them off. Then she realized that today was her first day at TAPS. "What time is it?!"

"Uh....7:39....why?"

"Good... GET OFF ME!" she yelled. She started kicked wildly till... it connected with something it shouldn't have.

Nate grunted and rolled off the bed holding his you know what. Tears were practically welling up in his eyes.

"Nate! I am so sorry! Are you okay?" MacKenzie asked still underneath the human mound.

"Do I look okay?!" he yelled at her.

Nick jumped off her and helped his twin brother up. Finally, Nate was on his feet and waddling out of her room.

Sam shook his head at them and rolled off her as well, Matt followed suit.

"Thanks guys. My legs are officially broken because of your little stunts," she scolded getting out of bed. "Can you leave? I have to uh..." she said pointing it the bathroom.

"Yeah," Sam said and grabbed Matt's arm since he still didn't get the clue. He shut the door and MacKenzie quickly did her thing.

When she finished, she went downstairs to see her brothers sitting around the table, beating on it with the blunt ends of their forks and knives. Nate looked better now but of course he wasn't walking around.

"What do you want, guys? I have to leave in a hour for work,"

"But I thought you were unemployed," Nick said.

"Remember, I had that interview two days ago and they hired me yesterday,"

"Good for you!" Matt said.

"What do you guys want?" MacKenzie asked again.

"Just cereal today," Sam said getting up and grabbing 4 bowls.

"But-!" Nate began.

"Just cereal today," Sam said in an commanding voice. Nate sat back and glared at the wall. MacKenzie smirked a little but made no comment.

"Well, okay. I'm making eggs and bacon!" she said and skipped to the fridge. She pulled a carton of eggs, a pack of bacon, and a gallon of milk.

She quickly made her breakfast and ate it. She looked at the clock on the microwave. She sighed and put her dishes in the sink.

"Well, I'm leaving,"

"But it's only 8:35!" Matt said. "Don't you start at 9:00?"

"I wanna walk there. Walking is good for ya," she said still grabbing her keys.

"then why are you taking your car keys?" Sam asked.

"House key," MacKenzie said and walked to the door. "See ya guys later,"

~At TAPS~

MacKenzie walked up to the building's front door and pulled on it. It didn't even move.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said looking around to find a window, but the only ones that she could actually fit through were the front windows, which didn't open. "And no freaking window besides these!"

She knocked on the glass, making it shake a little. Someone's head popped out of a room a couple seconds later. It turned out to be.... Dave Tango. He unlocked the door, pushing it up to let her in.

"Thanks Tango. How did you get in?" she asked spinning her keys on her finger.

"The cellar door is always open," he said.

"Well, people could have told me that," she said looking around the room.

"We never expected a newbie to arrive early for the job," Tango replied. MacKenzie smirked and sat down in one of the spinny office chairs.

"So what do we do? Just sit and wait till Jay and Grant get here or what?" MacKenzie asked spinning from side to side.

"Usually you just sit and wait, but I was finishing up on the EVPs for our recent investigation," Tango said walking back toward the room, "You wanna help?"

She thought about it a little, "Sure, but I'm taking the chair with me,"

Tango laughed as she rolled the chair past him.


	5. Chapter 5

Dave sat in his "office" that he shared with Steve. He lazily listened to the EVPs to hear if they caught anything. It was only 8:45 in the morning, but he could tell it was gonna be one of those lazy days, again.

Suddenly there was a loud bang that definitely wasn't on the tape recorder.

'What the hell was that?' Dave Tango thought to himself.

He paused the recorder and poked his head out into the lobby. There stood his recent crush and the newest newbie to TAPS - MacKenzie O'Connor. She had beautiful brown hair that cascaded gracefully over her shoulders, gorgeous pale green eyes that showed every emotion possible, and of course you could never forget her very curvy body.

He walked over and unlocked the door for her. He opened it and she walked in.

"Thanks Tango. How did you get in?" she asked while spinning her car keys on her pointer finger.

"The cellar door is always open," he replied.

"Well someone could have told me that," she said mainly to herself, while looking around the room.

"We never expected a newbie to arrive early for the job," Tango said answering her. MacKenzie smirked and sat down on one of the office chairs that surrounded the round conference table where Steve and him reveal the results to Jason and Grant.

"So what do we do? Just sit and wait till Jay and Grant get here or what?" MacKenzie said spinning from side to side.

"Usually you just sit and wait, but I was actually finishing up on the EVPs from the recent investigation," he said turning toward his office. "You wanna help?" She sat there, thinking about it.

'Please say yes, please say yes... it sounds like I just asked her to marry me... wonder what she looks like na- WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!!!!' he yelled in his head.

"Sure, but I'm taking this chair with me," she said.

He chuckled as she rolled the chair past him.

"Okay, where do we start?" she asked.

"You can listen to this one. It's really easy; just listen for anything that doesn't sound human or just footsteps," he said handing her a recorder and some spare headphones.

"Okay," she replied and put on the headphones, plugged them into the recorder and started it up.

Tango put on his red (This is the author speaking: Yes, i believe they are red) headphones but before he could turn on his recorder, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and looked at MacKenzie.

"Nice headphones," she said smiling, and then turned her attention back to the recorder.

Tango turned back to his recorder, smirking at the comment.

~2 hours later~

"Hey Tango," Grant said walking over to Tango's office. In his hand was a drowned cell phone. "Have you seen-? Okay never mind,"

"What?" Tango asked pausing everything so he could hear Grant.

"I was gonna ask if you seen MacKenzie,"

MacKenzie looked up and glanced at them. She then went back to the recorder.

"How is she doing on that?" Grant asked.

"Pretty good; she found some footsteps and one questionable voice on this one," Tango replied holding up a recorder that MacKenzie had been listening to earlier. Since she had found something on it she bookmarked it on the recorder and put in a seperate group than the rest that didn't have anything except the investigator's voices.

"Good," Grant said nodding

MacKenzie took off the headphones and shut the recorder off, "That one's done."

"Okay," Tango said as she unplugged the headphones out of the recorder and set it on the counter. "Find anything on it?"

"Do your voices count?"

Grant shook his head and left the room, walking to his and Jay's office.

"You done with your thing?" MacKenzie asked.

"Yeah, only had an hour and 30 minutes left on it," he replied.

"Wanna play 20/20?" she suggested putting her feet on a little table.

"Sure but I go first. What is your favorite color?" he asked leaning back in his chair.

"Red and black," she said. "What's yours?"

"Red," he answered.

They continued back and forth like that till the very last question, by then it was almost 1 in the afternoon.

"Wanna get some lunch?" Tango asked. Once again she thought about it. His brain did the flip-flop between extremely perverted and mature side.

"I don't see why not," she said. They walked out and saw everyone in the lobby.

"Hey Jay, Grant. We're going out for lunch," he said.

"But we're hungry too!" Steve said in a kiddy voice.

"You can come too...but you pay," MacKenzie said.

"Okay, so where we going?" Steve asked as they walked out the door. "Who's car we taking?"

"First off, we're going to Papa John's and second we're walking because it's just 3 blocks away," MacKenzie said not even stopping. Steve hesitated a little but continued anyway. He walked on her left while Tango lagged behind a little. Suddenly, he arm wrapped around her waist.

At that moment, Dave's emotions went wild. He was pissed. Fury bubbled inside him as he watched Steve make a move on his girl. But what hurt him the most was that she didn't move away.


	6. Chapter 6

Steve's arm was still wrapped around her waist when they entered the building. The way he did it, it was like he was saying, "She's my girl, don't hit on her."

Tango ordered the pizza while Steve searched for a table while he dragged poor MacKenzie around like a rag doll. Finally, he chose a booth next to a window.

"After you, ma'lady," he said in a chivarish voice. MacKenzie slid in and right after her, Steve sat down, that left Tango to sit across from them. He just sat there glaring out the window, afraid that if he looked at them he would see Steve making lovey-dovey eyes at MacKenzie.

An awkward silence seemed to find its way over the table.

The waiter came over carrying their pizza. He set it down on a tray holder beside the table.

"Here's your pizza. Enjoy!" he said in a very gay voice. He turned around and walked into the back. Once he was gone, MacKenzie burst out laughing.

".God!" she managed to say in between laughs.

Because she was laughing, Steve started laughing. Eventually Dave started laughing as well. Finally they calmed down and ate their share of pizza.

As promised, Steve paid for everything. They left Papa John's and once again, Steve's arm was around her waist.

MacKenzie sighed lazily and continued to walk down the street just ignoring the fact that Steve was hitting on her.

They walked into TAPS. When Steve opened the door, he let her go from his "death hold." She walked in and went directly to her favorite thing in the whole wide world.... the spinny chair. She got the chair from Dave and Steve's office and wheeled it out into the lobby.

"This is fun," she said again as she spun around the room.

"Hey MacKenzie," Jason said walking into the room. "If you want you can leave early. We basically got everything covered from here,"

"Thanks," MacKenzie said and got up. "I'll see you guys tomorrow,"

She left the building and walked the ten minutes to her place. Thoughts swirled around her normally calm mind. Before she knew it, she was walking up her own driveway.

"Oh my fucking god!!!" she screamed as she saw her once black and red 2008 Mustang Shelby was now rainbow. She ran full speed for the door. She entered her home, screaming bloody murder.

"Oh shit! She's home!" Matt's voice said from the kitchen. She went into it and saw the door hanging wide open.

"You are so dead," she screamed and ran out into the backyard to see her brothers ducking for cover behind bushes and the tree line that separated their yard from the neighbor's.

She walked a little and went towards the shed in the back.

"I can't believe we spray painted her car," one of her brothers said. She heard the other laugh.

"I know. Besides she'll never find us here anyway,"

MacKenzie smirked and stood in front of the broken down tractor that was now all rusty and the new home for weeds. She was about to jump on her brothers when she saw it... A spider the size of a quarter.

"OH MY GOD!!! SPIDER!! A FUCKING SPIDER!!!!!" MacKenzie screamed and took off for the house. She would have made it, if it weren't for a pot hole.

"Man down! Man down!" Nick said in between laughs as he stood up behind the tractor.

"It's not funny!" MacKenzie said trying to stand up but failing miserably.

"MacKenzie... stop trying to get up," Sam said kneeling down next to her. "And stop moving!"

"Sorry! It feels like there's a spider on me," she whined.

"There IS a spider on you," Nate said pointing at her shoulder.

"OH MY GOD!!! GET IT OFF!! GET IT OFF!!" she screamed franticly kicking and throwing her arms everywhere.

"THERE'S NO FUCKING SPIDER!!! NOW STOP MOVING!!" Sam yelled. MacKenzie stopped moving, eventually. She glared at Nate, who was trying not to laughing but was failing miserably. Sam gently grabbed her ankle and being examining it.

"Is it bad?" she asked looking at her brother with worried eyes.

"I think you just sprained it," Sam said standing up. "Can you help her up?"

Matt sighed and helped her to her feet. She put her arm over his shoulder and slowly made their way to the kitchen.

"Sit," Sam commanded. Matt helped his younger sister sit down in a chair around the kitchen table.

"Thanks," she muttered as Sam propped her foot on a chair.

"I'll go get the crutches," Matt said and disappeared out of the room. They always had crutches on supply just in case someone gets hurt rough housing or, in this case, running from a spider.

"Nick, Nate. Get an ice pack from the freezer and bandage wrap from the bathroom cabinet underneath the sink," Sam instructed. MacKenzie sat back looking at her now discolored and swelled up ankle, as Sam took charge of the situation.

"Sam, I'm taking that when your ankle turns yellow and green it's not a good sign," she said, noticing that her once black and blue ankle was now a sickly yellow and green-ish color, as she readjusted it painfully.

Finally, everything was here. Sam wrapped her ankle. She fumbled her way into the living room using the crutches Matt had got out from the back closet. She painfully propped her foot on a pile of pillows. Sam set the ice pack on her ankle and handed her the TV remote.

"What do you want to eat?" he asked.

"Nothing right now. I'm not really hungry but if I am I'll call you, okay?" MacKenzie said as she turned on the TV.

"Yep, well. Have fun," he muttered as he walked out of the room.

"Oh, I will!" she called as she started watching the recorded episodes of NCIS on On Demand.


	7. Chapter 7

Dave sat at the conference table with everyone at TAPS. There was only one person missing - MacKenzie O'Connor.

"Anyone see MacKenzie?" Grant asked looking at everyone.

Kris looked at the clock, "She's still got two minutes."

Jason looked at his wrist watch, "She has a minute on my watch."

Suddenly everyone heard a car pull up. Steve looked out the window and saw a grey Land Rover.

"It's a grey Land Rover," he said stating the obvious since everyone could see out the window.

"It's not her," Dave said with a sigh. "She told me that she drives a black 2008 Mustang GT with red racing stripes,"

Steve turned around and looked at the clock, "Time's up."

Dave also glanced at the clock just as it turned 9:01.

"She's officially late for her first paranormal investigation debriefing," Jason said.

"MATTHEW JUAN O'CONNOR! OPEN THE GOD DAMN FUCKING DOOR OR I'LL REALLY BE LATE!!" MacKenzie's voice shouted through the glass door.

The door opened and MacKenzie walked in. The only problem was she was supported by crutches. A blonde guy, who was 5-6 years older than her, was following her.

"Hey, sorry I'm late...by 2 minutes," she said making her away over to them.

"What happened?" Grant asked standing up.

"She sprained her ankle... while running away from quarter-sized spider," the guy, Dave assumed was Matthew, said.

"See Dave, I'm not the only one who is scared of spiders!" Steve said.

"I never said you were," Dave said.

"This is my brother, Matt. My brothers insisted that I have someone with me at all times," MacKenzie explained sitting in between Kris and Jason.

"How many brothers do you have?" Kris asked.

"4," both MacKenzie and Dave said.

"How do you know?" Everyone, except MacKenzie, asked, looking at Dave in wonder.

"We played 20/20 yesterday," Dave said glancing at everyone.

"Well, I better get going," Matt said. "Nick and Nate will be back around 4:30 - 5:00."

"Okay."

"You know I could take her home," Dave suggested.

"I think it would be best that her brothers pick her up," Jason said. Grant just sat there silently but Dave knew that he silently agreed with Jason.

That's when it hit him....

He couldn't date MacKenzie. She couldn't date him. It was against the rules at TAPS. Jay and Grant didn't want their employees to date one another because of destroying their team, por se.

"Tango, it's okay. Maybe next time," MacKenzie said with a smile. He just smiled back.

"Well, they'll be back here around 5, okay?" Matt said. His hand was on the handle of the door. MacKenzie nodded and almost instantly he was opening his car door.

"Well, it looks like you won't be able to help with the investigation," Jason said running his hand over his bald head.

"You were gonna take me on an investigation!" MacKenzie said astonished.

"Yeah, but since you sprained your ankle.... because of a spider... you can't go," Grant said.

"Great, my first investigation and I can't go!" she said annoyed and glaring at her injured foot.

"Maybe she can do what Jen Rossi always did, watch the home base," Steve suddenly suggested. MacKenzie immediately looked up as if she was replenished; her eyes were even twinkling at the thought.

"Can I do that?" she asked hoping that Steve had found a loop hole allowing her to go the investigation.

"But she still needs field work experience," Jason said shooting down that idea.

Suddenly, Dave had an idea....

"MacKenzie, can you stand on your foot?" he asked.

"Barely...why?"

"I was wondering, maybe, if you can stand then you might be able to have the field work," Dave suggested. "And if you can't, we'll just get her a chair to sit on."

MacKenzie brightened up once again and glanced at Jason and Grant, who were thinking about the idea.

Finally, Jason looked at the group, "What do you think of this, Kris?"

Kris looked at MacKenzie, "I think..." she hesitated a little, "that she should come just to see how things are done,"

Grant pointed at Kris, "I like that idea. She can see how everything is set up and she can have the field experience or she could monitor home base,"

Jason sighed, "Then it's settled. MacKenzie pack your bags, you're coming with us to Connecticut."


	8. Chapter 8

It was around 5:00 when her older brothers arrived. All day long, MacKenzie was confided to the spinny office chair which she really didn't mind at all.

"See ya later guys and Kris!" MacKenzie said and hobbled out of the room. She hopped into the gray Land Rover one-footed, which in her opinion took a lot of skill.

"So um... guys... I got something to tell you."

"Please don't tell me you're dating that freaking Dave guy," Nick said spinning around in the passenger seat so he was facing her.

"How do you know about Dave?" MacKenzie asked folding her arms in front of her. "And what's so wrong with him?"

"Matt told us about him and that he was totally hitting on you," Nate replied, looking at her through the rear-view mirror.

"He was not! He offered me a ride and that was it! Nothing more and nothing less!" MacKenzie shouted.

"Well, are you dating him?" Nick asked.

"No!" she shouted punching his head rest.

After that the ride was quiet, and everyone completely forgot about what she wanted to tell them.

They pulled into the driveway next to the now black Mustang. She opened the door and exited the vehicle. Her brothers sat in shock as the backseat door slammed shut.  
"Someone's PMS-ing," they said in unison and they too exited the Land Rover.

Once inside they saw MacKenzie cooking dinner, or beginning it anyway.

"So what were you gonna tell us?" Nick asked sitting down at the table. At the sound of that everyone was in the kitchen in a blink of an eye.

"Well, I'm.... leaving for a few-"

"You're leaving? How could you do this to us?!" Nick yelled practically hyperventilating.

"Yes! It's for a few days! But it's for my job Nick! Do you wanna get feed or not!"

MacKenzie said pointing a butcher knife at him. Everyone blinked at her.

"Why are you pointing a knife at Nick?" Matt asked stupidly.

MacKenzie wanted to scream at them, but decided to take the calm way out... throw the knife at the far wall and storm away yelling profanities.

"Someone's PMS-ing," everyone said once she was out of sight

**- The Next Morning-******

MacKenzie woke up at 5:45 in the morning. She did her morning routine and then noticed...

"I can walk!" she screamed. Within seconds, Sam was at her door see her dancing like a maniac.

"It's 6:30 in the morning. What the hell are you screaming for?" he whined.

"I can walk!" she said spinning around the room.

"Yeah, till you run into a wall," Matt said yawning. MacKenzie stopped spinning around and looked at him in a cocky manner.

"I still want you to wear an ankle wrap or something," Sam said seriously.

"But-"

"No buts, MacKenny. You can still throw it out with how clumsy you are," Sam said crossing his arms over his chest.

MacKenzie sighed a little and then gave in, "Fine. I'll bring an ankle wrap,"

"I'm hungry," Matt said and disappeared down the hall.

"I'll be down then. I need to finish packing some things," MacKenzie said and disappeared into the bathroom.

When she came back out, Sam was gone. She opened her duffle bag and put her bathroom things in it. She zipped her bag up and carried out of her room. She got the ankle wrap from the bathroom then walked down to the kitchen.

Sam sat at the table eating toast and jelly. Matt was eating cereal.

"I was gonna make you something," she said setting her bag down next to the doorway.

"I got hungrier and more impatient," Matt said eating a huge spoonful of cereal.  
MacKenzie smirked and decided to make herself an omelet.

By the time she was done cooking and eating her meal, it was almost 8:00.

"Uh, guys I have to get going soon," MacKenzie said standing. She was just about to leave when Nick and Nate jumped on her.

"Don't leave! Please don't leave!" Nate said acting like he was crying.

"It's only for a couple of days! I'll be back by the weekend," MacKenzie said gasping for oxygen.

"Can you at least make us breakfast?" Nick asked sticking his bottom lip out. MacKenzie looked him and sighed, giving into her brother's puppy-dog face.

"What do you want?" she asked pushing him off her.

"Just dippy eggs," they said in unison.

She quickly made them eggs, "Okay. I'm heading out. Jay and Grant want everyone at TAPS headquarters by 8:30."

"See ya!"

MacKenzie grabbed her bag and went to her car. She threw her bag onto the passenger seat and drove out of her driveway.


	9. Chapter 9

MacKenzie pulled into the back parking lot. She noticed that there were other cars in there too, so she got out and tugged on the back door. It was open she just walked in leaving her duffle bag out in her car for later.

She went in and saw everyone sitting in the lobby.

"Hey guys," she said walking into the room.

"I thought you needed crutches," Grant said as she sat down in a spinning office chair.

"Yeah, that's what Sam thought. He wanted me to wear this ankle wrap," MacKenzie said lifting up her pants leg and revealed her ankle wrap and her black/pink gladiator socks that she got out of a sports catalogue.

"So would I," Steve said as MacKenzie started rolling over towards the group.

MacKenzie gave him a look but shrugged off what he said then noticed a heavy-set Chinese or Korean guy sitting next to Kris and Dave.

"Okay, before we begin I wanna introduce MacKenzie to Joe Chin," Jason said walking into the room from his office. MacKenzie smiled at the guy.

"Okay! Tonight Tango and Steve have off, so basically it's just us, Kris, Joe, and MacKenzie. You guys will come down tomorrow and help reviewing everything with them," Grant said.

"Let's pack up the equipment and hit the road," Jason said slapping his hands together. "Do you guys wanna show MacKenzie where everything is?"

"Sure," Kris said standing up.

It took nearly 30 minutes to pack everything into the van.

"Okay, Joe, you're riding with us in our truck. Kris and MacKenzie you are driving the utility van, got it?"

"Yepperz," MacKenzie said getting her duffle bag out of her car. She got into the van as Kris started it up.

It was quiet for a couple minutes till Kris asked MacKenzie, "So where are you from originally?"

"Spain. I moved to England when i was one and then moved here to the states when i was thirteen or fourteen," MacKenzie said.

"Wow. I would've never guessed that because you don't have an accent," Kris said.

"It disappeared when after a couple years," MacKenzie said shrugging a little.

It was that time when Kris asked another question. It totally caught MacKenzie off guard, "Do you like Tango?"

MacKenzie's head snapped around and stared at Kris in shock. It took her a while to register the question before she said anything, "Is that obvious?"

Kris smirked and nodded, "I would've never noticed if you hadn't mentioned the 20/20 game yesterday and the fact that you kept glancing at him this morning,"

MacKenzie's eyes were wide. She hadn't even noticed herself that she was glancing at Dave. Well, not until Kris said something about it.

She laughed a little and looked around outside.

"Do you realize that Steve likes you?"

Once again, MacKenzie nearly got whiplash as she snapped her head around in shock, "What?"

"Steve kept glancing at you while you were glancing at Tango," Kris said smirking a little.

"Wow," MacKenzie said still a little shocked that Steve liked her. That's when she remembered that Steve had his arm around her two days before, 'Shit,' she thought as that imaged popped into her head.

Suddenly, the walkie crackled to life making MacKenzie jump as she was pulled out of her thoughts.

"Kris," Jay's voice said over the walkie.

Kris reached over and pushed the talk button, "Yeah?"

"Why don't tell us a little about this place?"

It was Kris who booked the place. She was now taking calls since Donna joined the GHI (Ghost Hunters International) team.

"Well, there's been various reports of doors opening and closing, voices being heard, people being touched, and kids running around upstairs," she said racking her brain for any more possible information.

"Also, this woman that lives here now is terrified of her own house. She won't even sleep alone at this place," Grant mentioned over the walkie.

MacKenzie glanced at Kris, "Wow."

"Yeah. It must be horrible being afraid of your own home," Kris said. "I know."

The two continued to talk about different subjects till the truck in front of them pulled into a driveway.

"We're here," MacKenzie said in a creepy voice that could send chill's down anyone's spine.

".God. Never do that ever again! It creeps me out so bad!" Kris said stepping out of the truck. Joe walked over and looked at them confused.

"What?" he asked.

MacKenzie walked over to them and once again said, "We're here," in the creepy voice.

"Holy shit! MacKenzie stop scaring the shit out of me!" Kris shouted totally annoyed.

"Okay that was the last time," MacKenzie said and disappeared around the van.  
Kris and Joe started to unpack the van when out of nowhere MacKenzie once again said, "We're here," in her creepy voice.

Kris nearly pissed her pants as she heard it again, "MACKENZIE!"

"Okay, that was the last one. Seriously," she said and grabbed some equipment and took it to home base.


	10. Chapter 10

After a few hours, darkness began to set. It was only her and Kris at the home base. Joe went out to the van to get some extra batteries. Grant and Jason were doing the usual tour with the home owner.

"So are you excited?" Kris asked. "I mean for the investigation?"

"Sorta," MacKenzie said. "It's basically all nerves really."

"Yeah, I got that too when I first investigated," Kris said.

"My dad always said that you either have to be nervous or excited to know that you really are passionate about what you're doing,"

Kris thought about it then shrugged.

Joe came back holding four batteries, "Here you are, MacKenzie," he said handing two over to her.

"Hey MacKenzie... do you have any nicknames?" Kris asked as she put the batteries in her flashlights. MacKenzie tested the flashlight and looked at Kris.

"My brothers call me MacKenny. But I don't care what you call me really," she answered.

Just then Grant walked in, "So you probably wouldn't care if I called you Mac-N-Cheese?"

"Nope," MacKenzie said.

Jason walked in, "Okay, let's go lights out."

Everyone flipped off the lamps and lights. Soon, it was completely dark.

"MacKenzie, you're basically gonna be switched back and forth between us," Grant said.

MacKenzie nodded putting her hands inside her hoodie pocket.

"You're coming with us for now, okay?" Jason asked. Once again, MacKenzie nodded.

They then left with MacKenzie following them it the house. At first it was kind of boring but then they debunked the door leading to the inside porch.

"Hello, I'm Jay, this is Grant, and that's MacKenzie."

"We are not here to hurt you."

They looked at MacKenzie, who was practicing with the thermal, "I have question. Is this me or them?"

Jason walked over and looked at the screen. He looked up then looked down, "Move your hand."

MacKenzie waved it but the nothing on the thermal moved, then without warning the hot spot evaporated into the air.

"Where did it go?" Grant asked in surprise. He had walked over curious about what MacKenzie caught on the thermal.

MacKenzie shrugged then started scanning the hallway slowly once again.

"Okay that was good. Can you give us another sign, close a door, make a noise, move something," Grant recited as they walked into a room. MacKenzie followed Grant but barely had a chance to get at of the way when the door slammed.

"Holy shit!" both Grant and MacKenzie said at the same time.

Grant opened the door, examining it, "MacKenny did you close it?"

MacKenzie shook her head, still trying to absorb what had just happened.

"What happen?" Jason asked with a delayed reaction.

"The door just shut on MacKenny and the camera guys," Grant said, still examining the door and its frame.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked.

Once again, MacKenzie nodded her head, "Yeah, just a little shaken up."

Jason nodded and then turned around asking questions. After a couple minutes, they left and went outside to Kris and Joe.

"Okay, why don't you and Joe go up to the attic? Grant and I are going to go to the other room. MacKenzie, you watch the home base," Jason commanded.

She nodded and within 30 seconds, she was all alone. She sat down and just watched the night vision camera screen.

**~ 1 hour later ~**

"Kris, Joe, and MacKenny," Grant's voice said through the walkie-talkie.

"Yeah," Kris said back.

"MacKenny's a go,"

"Time to wrap up," Grant said.

MacKenzie sighed and turned on the lights in the room that home base was set up in. Within 45 seconds, the rest of the house was a light as well. Jason trotted down the stairs to the living room.

"MacKenzie, why don't you go and help everyone else pack the equipment while I quick save this stuff," he said sitting down at the monitor.

"Okay," she said and went upstairs. She saw Grant turning off a mini DVR. "Um... Grant, what do you want me to do?"

"Could you go collect all the wireless audio recorders?"

MacKenzie nodded and started collecting all the recorders. When she was finally done, she walked down the halls the steps were at.

Suddenly, the creepy feeling that someone was watching her started to seep into her. She glanced around and saw no one, nothing. The hallway was completely empty besides her.

"Oh God," she whispered as a shiver ran up and down her spine. Her breathing started to get heavy as she started getting the feeling, once again, but even stronger this time. "A couple more steps and you won't be alone anymore."

She finally reached the bottom of the stairs even the feeling was still weighing down on her.

"Hey MacKenny, who were you talking to?" Kris asked as MacKenzie walked into the room that once was home base but all that remained was four or five boxes with TAPS logo on them and the collapsible table.

"I swear to God that there was something watching me when I was in the hallway upstairs," she said grabbing a box, as well as Kris.

"Seriously?"

"Twice actually, I looked around and it left momentarily. When I turned back around to head downstairs it came back but even stronger. It kept getting stronger whenever I walked toward the staircase," MacKenzie said walking outside. "That hallway officially creeps me out."


	11. Chapter 11

The team quickly packed up and went to the hotel, Best Western. Kris and MacKenzie shared a room. Joe, Steve, and Dave shared adjoining rooms, while Grant and Jason got their own rooms.

MacKenzie sat in her room now wearing her PJ's. They were brown-tan Capri lounge pants and a black wife beater. Her hair was in a messy bun.

She was busy thinking about the conversation that she and Kris had earlier in the van.  
'I seriously can't believe that Steve likes me. Well I can't really blame him; I was kind of leading on when we held hands back to the HQ-'

MacKenzie was snapped out of her thoughts when Kris walked in.

"Hey MacKenny, do wanna head down to a restaurant?" Kris asked.

"Uh...sure," she said standing. Since she was still wearing her socks, she put on her black and pink Etnies. She grabbed her phone and walked out of the room into the hallway. Everyone was already out, waiting for them.

"Hi guys," MacKenzie said smiling at Dave and Steve.

"Hey," they replied in unison, both returning the smile.

"So where are we going? Especially at 1 o' clock in the morning," MacKenzie asked looking at Grant and Jason.

"The only place open...Wendy's," Grant said.

MacKenzie was about to reply but her phone started playing Ketchup and Mayo/Peanut Butter Jelly Time, "Excuse me, this is Nick or Nate or possibly both."  
She answered her phone and put it on speaker.

"MacKenny...when the hell you coming home to feed us?" Nick whined into the phone.  
MacKenzie rolled her eyes, "In a couple days. Didn't Sam or Matt feed you?"

"No... But they told us to make something," Nate answered back.

"DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING! Go to McDonald's or something!" MacKenzie shouted at them.

"Okayz, talk to ya tomorrow," they said.

"Whatever; see ya in a couple days," she said then hung up. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay," Jason said.

Finally, they left the hotel and drove to Wendy's. They only used one car since it would save gas and the van was full of equipment. MacKenzie and Kris sat on the floor in the very back, Joe, Dave, and Steve sat on the middle seat, while Grant drove and Jason sat in the passenger seat.

"So, did anyone catch anything or don't you guys know yet?" Steve asked breaking the silence.

"I'm pretty sure MacKenzie caught a thermal then something slammed the door in her face," Grant said glancing over his shoulder, and then turned back paying attention to the road.

"When she was collecting the recorders, she told me that she felt like someone was watching her," Kris said.

"Seriously?" Jason asked turning around attempting to the girls in the very back of the SUV.

"It scared the living shit out of me. Normally I'm not freaked about those types of feelings but it was freaking strong like they were just right behind me," MacKenzie said sort of shivering at thought of the feeling.

Steve chuckled at her comment but she wasn't even paying attention. She was once again in La La Land.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Dave opened the back doors, allowing the ladies to get out.

"What do you guys want? It's my turn to pay," Steve said.

"A 3 piece Chicken Selects with fries and a diet coke," Kris said smiling.

"Uh...#8, spicy please, no fries but a Caesar salad, and a coke," MacKenzie said taking

Dave's extended hand as she stepped out of the back of the truck.

Everyone gave their orders and picked tables close together. Of course Jason and Grant picked a table, probably talking about their newest employee. The guys picked the booth while the girls picked their own table next to them.

Kris sat down and looked at MacKenzie with serious eyes, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, why?"

"Because you're acting exactly like you did when you had that fight with your brother but only worse," Kris said not taking her eyes off of her friend.

"It's nothing...personal issues," MacKenzie lied. She took a bite out of her spicy chicken sandwich with bacon and Swiss cheese.

"You know you really suck at lying," Kris said smirking but then turned serious again. "But seriously if you need anything I'm right here, okay?"

"Yeah," MacKenzie said and took a swig of her soda. Kris smiled and began eating her meal.

After their little talk, they chatted about random things till they were ready to go back to the hotel.

Once again, the ladies were stuck in the back when the guys got the middle and front seats. Kris complained jokingly with the guys. MacKenzie on the other hand closed her eyes listening to the music coming out of the speakers, it was soothed her mind out and she actually managed to fall asleep before they reached the hotel.


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning both MacKenzie and Kris woke up to the most annoying ringtone of all time, Ketchup and Mayo/Peanut Butter Jelly Time.

"What?" MacKenzie mumbled running her hand through her hair which was now down instead of her messy bun that she had it in last night.

"This is your wakeup call! So, WAKE THE FUCK UP!!" they both yelled. It was so loud that MacKenzie could hear it plain as day with her arm extended out away from her ear.

She groaned and hung up, not even reply back at them. She closed her phone and the time illuminated.

"Oh my God, it's 5:30! I'm going back to sleep!" Kris complained, and then rolled over on her side.

MacKenzie didn't even bother trying to sleep. She turned off her phone just in case they tried calling again and quietly got out of bed.

She did her morning routine and then changed into stonewashed jeans, a black T-shirt with light purple and gray long sleeves, and her black and pink Etnies shoes.

When she was done with everything else it was almost 7:00 AM.

"Might as well go eat breakfast," she muttered to herself. She set the alarm clock for 8:30 AM and grabbed her phone.

She went onto the elevator, which drove her insane with the "easy listening" music that was coming out of the speakers.

Finally, the elevator doors slid open with a ding. She stepped out and automatically went to the free breakfast buffet being served in the lobby.

"Pancakes, eggs, muffin," she said as she added the food onto her plate. "Ooo!! BACON!!!" she shouted gaining the attention of all the other guests there. She blushed and picked a seat towards the back of the room.

"Well, this is a surprise. How are you up so early?" someone said behind her. She turned around to see Dave, Jason, and Grant also eating breakfast.

"Hey...my brothers called my phone at 5:30 in the morning. Kris is officially ticked at them," MacKenzie said smirking at the thought, "Mind if I join you?"

"I don't care, you guys?" Grant asked looking at them. No one interjected. "Come on over."

She set her plate down on their table and took her seat next to Dave.

"So, explain to me how the heck I ended up in my bed when I fell asleep in the SUV," she said putting a fork full of pancakes in her mouth.

"Tango carried you in," Jason explained.

"You know you could've waked me up," she said turning her attention to Dave.

"Didn't wanna take the chance of getting slapped in the face or something like that," he said shrugging then also took of fork full of _her_ pancakes.

"Dude those were my pancakes!" she shouted playfully poking his hand with her fork.

He laughed as she hopeless tried getting some of his food.

Suddenly, Steve and Joe walked in.

"Hey guys," Steve said waving. "Have a good night's sleep, Sleeping Beauty?"

"One of the best," MacKenzie replied standing up. She throw her tray of leftovers away. "So, what are we doing today?"

"Well, the guys are gonna review the evidence and we want you to research on the house," Grant said. MacKenzie nodded.

"If you want you can also take Kris," Jason said.

"Okay, better go wake her up then," she replied and then went up to the hotel room.

Inside, Kris was still sleeping peacefully but MacKenzie didn't really care it was almost 8:00 anyway. She walked over and started shaking Kris' shoulder.

"Kris! Wake up! It's 8:00 in the morning!" she said still shaking the poor girl.

"I'm up. MacKenzie stop shaking me!" Kris said almost tearing up because she was laughing so hard.

"Jason and Grant want us to go research on the house," MacKenzie said as Kris swung her legs out from under the thick covers.

"Okay, let me get ready and then we can go."

"Don't cha want breakfast?"

"Na."

She was done at 8:45. She wore light blue jeans, a pink Cami with a black quarter sleeve sweater over top of that, and white Nike running shoes.

"Come on, slow poke," Kris said. MacKenzie playfully glared at Kris but got up off the armchair that she was sitting on.

They exited the hotel and got into the SUV.

"So, how was your morning so far?" Kris asked as she started the engine.

"Okay, I guess. I saw the guys earlier," she replied putting on her seat belt.

"Ooo! You saw your lover boy," Kris said exaggerating on 'lover boy.'

"He isn't my lover boy, as you put it," MacKenzie said rolling her eyes at the now hyper Kris Williams.

"Sure he ain't," Kris said smirking at MacKenzie. "Just keep telling yourself that."

"Yeah, I will," MacKenzie said looking out the side window.


	13. Chapter 13

It was around 1:30 when they arrived back at the hotel. The historian told them exactly what the homeowners told Jason and Grant earlier.

"Well, that was a waste of time," MacKenzie said with a sigh as they about into the hotel elevator.

Kris laughed a little, "Couldn't agree with you more."

The elevator finally came to a stop at their floor. They walked out and almost ran into Jason.

"Hey, did you get anything?" Jason asked Kris.

"Nothing that we don't already know," Kris said.

"Okay, do you wanna help the guys?" Jason asked. Kris wrinkled her nose and shook her head,

"I prefer not," she said. "But I pretty sure that MacKenzie would like to help."  
Jason looked at her. MacKenzie nodded with a sigh, "Don't really have anything better to do."

"Great! It's set up in Tango's room," Jason said and walked into the elevator before the doors tried to slid shut again.

Kris burst out laughing as she walked down the hall.

"Shut up," MacKenzie said fake glaring at Kris.

"I'll see you later. Have fun with your lover boy," she said walking to their room.

MacKenzie rolled her eyes and knocked on Dave's door. The door opened revealing him seating on a spinny office chair.

"Come to help you guys," she said looking down at him.

"Awesome,"

She walked into see everyone just lounging around listening to recorders and the night camera video.

"Do you wanna listen to recorders again?" Dave asked.

"Uh... I don't care... as long as I do something useful," MacKenzie said looking at the computer monitor.

"No, you choose," Dave said.

"No."

"Fine," Dave sighed. "Watch the monitor. Be careful not miss anything."

MacKenzie nodded her head and they put on their designated headphones.

**~ Later that day ~  
**

"Okay, that's all done," MacKenzie said putting the headphones on the table next to the computer.

"Find anything?" Dave asked.

"People," MacKenzie said laughing. "Nothing ghostly or the least bit paranormal."

"Well, we found your little thermal friend and the door thing," Steve said.

"That's good," MacKenzie said leaning back.

"I didn't find anything but footsteps," Joe said turning off the recorder.

"Okay," Dave said. Just then Jason and Grant walked in.

"Get anything?" Grant asked.

"Yeah," Dave replied. They started with the less impressive thing, which were the footsteps. They then showed the door almost hitting poor MacKenzie as it closed. Then the thermal figure.

Then out of nowhere, "What are we doing for dinner?" Steve asked.

"I don't know," Grant replied.

"I think I saw a Taco Bell/KFC a couple miles away from the Wendy's," MacKenzie said looking at the guys.

"That would for me," Joe said. "You guys?"

They all agreed that they would eat there, and then MacKenzie stood up.

"I'll go get Kris. Meet you guys in the lobby?"

"Yeah," Grant said.

MacKenzie opened the door and saw Kris bawling her eyes out while watching The Notebook.

"Kris, wanna go to Taco Bell/KFC with the guys and me?"

Kris managed to shake her head 'no.'

"Okay... see ya tonight then," MacKenzie said and went back to the lobby to the guys.

"Where's Kris?"

"She's watching The Notebook," MacKenzie said. "I also highly doubt that she would ever step out of the room with her mascara running down her cheeks like that and her blood shot eyes."

"What is it with girls and that movie?" Steve asked.

"I'm a girl and I'm not addicted to that movie," MacKenzie said. She climbed into the back of the SUV. Grant turned on the car and Addicted by Saving Abel came out of the speakers.

"Ooo! This is my favorite song!" she said swaying he upper body to the music since she was on her knees with her arms folded on the back of the middle seat.

"Why are you so hyper?" Jason asked turning around looking at her.

MacKenzie shrugged, "I guess I'm having a sugar rush," she said and began dancing once again.

After 3 minutes of pure sugar rushes and laughing, the SUV pulled into the fast food restaurant parking lot.

"My turn to pay, what do you guys want?" Dave said.

"Uh...3 soft shell tacos and a coke," MacKenzie said. "Are we all sitting at one table or no?"

"Yeah," Grant answered then told Dave his order.

It was pure chaos when they ate their food. One time the almost got kicked out because Steve, Dave, and she were acting so chaotic.

By the time they were done with their supper it was almost 8:30 in the evening.

"Time to go back to the hotel," Jason said.

Once again, she hopped into the back of the SUV and they headed back to the hotel.

"MacKenzie don't fall asleep back there okay!" Jason yelled but no reply came.

"Too late," the guys said laughing loudly.


	14. Chapter 14

MacKenzie woke up around eleven in the morning to her phone playing _Baby Girl_ by Sugarland, which indicated that one of her parents were calling her about something.

"Hello?" she answered her voice still groggy from sleeping so long. It was only then did she realize that she was once again in her bed.

"MacKenzie? It's your mother," her mom's Hispanic accented voice said at the other end of the phone line. "I was wondering if you would be able to come to the family bar-b-queue this year, because of work an all."

"I can ask but I'm not guaranteeing anything," MacKenzie said rolling onto her back and sitting up in her bed. She looked around and saw Kris was looking at her with a confused expression on her face.

"Who's that?" she mouthed to MacKenzie.

"Honey, why don't you invite your bosses and co-workers?" her mother asked excited all of a sudden.

"Mom, I'm not sure that's the best idea but I can ask as well," MacKenzie said.

"Okay," her mother said. "I love you."

"Love you, too, Mom," MacKenzie said.

"Hopefully I'll see you at the bar-b-queue," MacKenzie's mom said.

"Yeah, see ya then hopefully," MacKenzie replied. "Adios,"

"Adios," her mom said then hung up. MacKenzie closed her phone and set it on the night stand.

"Who was that?" Kris asked. "Your mom?"

"Yeah, she wanted to know if everyone was able to come to the family bar-b-queue," she explained as she stretched a little. She stood up and then went to her duffle bag that was lying on the floor.

"Oh, wait! Did you say everyone? As in-" Kris asked watching the brunette grab her clothes and head toward the bathroom.

"Yes, as in the guys," MacKenzie said as she stood in the bathroom doorway.

"Are you sure she can handle that?" Kris said a little unsure about the idea.

"Yes, I'm sure. I mean, my mom is like super woman," MacKenzie said looking at Kris.

"MacKenzie, everyone thinks that their moms are super woman," Kris said.

"I know," MacKenzie said then went into the bathroom. She changed into her black Linkin Park T-shirt that she got at Hot Topic, a pair of faded blue jeans with holes in them, and her black and pink Etnies. She brushed her hair and teeth then walked out. "I'm going to breakfast. You wanna come with?"

"Nah, I already ate," Kris said.

"Gee thanks for waking me up," MacKenzie said jokingly. She grabbed her wallet, her cell phone, and the room key. She then opened the door to see Steve and Dave arguing about who was gonna knock on the door. "Well, hi."

"Oh! MacKenny!" they practically shouted in surprise when they noticed that she was now their presence.

"What do you guys what that you were arguing who was gonna knock on my hotel room?" MacKenzie asked.

"Well, we were wondering if you would like to hang with us this afternoon," Dave said looking at the ground almost shy like.

"Sure, but could I get something to eat first?" MacKenzie asked.

"Well, we can't let the poor girl starve!" Steve said putting his arm around her shoulders again. MacKenzie smiled then started toward the elevator; she glanced at Dave and couldn't help but notice that he was glaring at Steve.

They rode down on the elevator and walked into the dining area of the hotel. MacKenzie grabbed an apple and grabbed a bottle of chocolate milk. She sat down on at the table that the two were bickering at.

"So what were you guys planning on doing?" MacKenzie asked as she took a bite from her apple.

"I was thinking about going swimming, I'm not sure what Steve was thinking," Dave said smiling a little.

"I'm cool with that. Are you?" MacKenzie asked looking at Steve with pleading eyes.

"Sure… let's go swimming," Steve said also smiling.

"Okay, let me finish my food and then I'll go get changed. Thank God, I brought my swimming suit!" MacKenzie said laughing that the chances that she even brought it. She was actually debating whether or not to bring the swimming suit along or not two days before.

After a little more chatting MacKenzie finished her apple and drank the rest of her milk, "So I'll meet you guys in at the pool area?"

"Yea," Steve said as they all boarded the elevator again. When the elevator stopped the trio parted ways. MacKenzie went to her room and saw Kris reading one of the many romance novels she packed and watching a random TV show, which MacKenzie recognized as Charm School 3.

"Hey, I'm gonna chill with Tango and Steve for the day. Are you cool with that?" MacKenzie asked as she grabbed her bikini top and bottoms.

"Going swimming, I'm guessing," Kris said smirking a little as MacKenzie rushed across the room into the bathroom.

"Yea," MacKenzie said then shut the door. She came out a couple minutes later wearing a bikini halter and bikini bottoms. The top was multi-colored, purple at the top, then green, then sky blue at the bottom. The bikini bottoms were purple and green with sky blue draw strings on the right side.

"My God! You look… HOT!" Kris said smiling widely as MacKenzie grabbed her beach towel and wrapped it around her waist.

"You actually think I look hot?" MacKenzie asked looking at Kris.

"Well yeah! Have you not looked in a mirror lately?" Kris asked still smiling widely. "Don't fool yourself. You are extremely pretty and any guy would be lucky to have you."

"You're just saying that," MacKenzie said, grabbing her cell phone and key card from her jean pockets.

"No I'm not!" Kris said. "Seriously, you are pretty and that bikini seriously does make you look hot!"

MacKenzie rolled her eyes then left the room and took the elevator down to the pool area. She walked out and the first thing she noticed was that no one was there besides Steve and Dave who were challenging each other to cannon bomb splashes.

Steve was wearing brown plaid Hollister swimming trunks, he wasn't really built but he wasn't huge either. One thing that got her was the tattoos. He had not only the tattoos on his arms but tattoos on his legs as while.

Dave was wearing black swimming trunks with flames at the bottom; despite how thin he was he was actually well-built, for his size. One thing that actually got MacKenzie though, was the simple tattoo on his arm.

"Hey, guys," MacKenzie said as she walked over to one of the table and set her stuff down. She

"H-hey," Steve said stumbling over his words but recovering quickly. MacKenzie smirked a little then unwrapped her towel and went over to the pool side. She didn't even test out the water, she just dove in. She resurfaced and saw the two guys staring at her.

"Are you guys here to gawk at me or are you going to swim?" she asked as she waded over to the side of the pool.

"We're coming in," Steve replied and jumped in. Dave followed him.

They just swam for a couple minutes till something grabbed MacKenzie's leg, making her shriek a little. Her yell echoed off the making her actually wonder if anyone upstairs heard her.

"What the hell! Don't ever do that!" she scolded as Steve resurfaced and Dave was laughing his ass off.

"I'm sorry," Steve said pulling her into a hug.

"No you are not!" MacKenzie said pushing him away. She folded her arms across her chest and started pouting. "You are a big meanie!"

Dave once again started laughing his ass off as continue to scold Steve for pulling her underneath the water by her leg.

"There you guys are!" someone said from the other end of the room. MacKenzie looked back and saw Grant walking in.

"Here we are," MacKenzie said smiling.

"What are you guys doing this evening?" Grant asked.

"I don't know… probably gonna eat fast food again," MacKenzie said. "Why?"

"Jay and I were driving and actually came upon a family style restaurant and were wondering if you guys wanted to come along," Grant said.

"Sure, I'm game," MacKenzie replied.

"Great, seven okay with you?"

"Yea."

"Okay, see ya then,"

**~ Later that day ~**

"Kris, you coming along?" MacKenzie asked as she pulled on her black and pink Etnies again.

"Yea. I really don't wanna eat Wendy's again tonight," Kris said as she too pulled on her shoes.

MacKenzie smirked a little and grabbed her cell, some money, and key card. The two walked to the elevator. Once they reached the lobby the saw the guys waiting for them.

"Seriously, what took you so long?" Steve asked as the girls finally joined them.

"What? We're girls?" MacKenzie said flipping her hair in a fake, preppy way. "Nah, we lost track of time."

"Seriously, we did. We were watching Get Smart and totally lost track of time," Kris said.

"Yeah, like we're going to believe that," Dave said.

The group walked out of the hotel lobby and loaded into the SUV. MacKenzie once again sat in the very back. Steve, Dave, and Kris were in the middle seat. Grant was in passenger seat and Jason was driving.

"Hey, where's Joe?" Kris asked making MacKenzie curious of where Joe was too.

"He decided to stay at the hotel," Grant replied.

"Oh."

They finally reached the restaurant. They were seated in a huge crescent booth and given menus. MacKenzie was the first to pick out what she wanted and set down the menu.

"Hey guys," she said gaining the attention of Jay and Grant. "My mother called me this morning."

"Oh God, this can't be good," Steve said interrupting what she was about to say.

"No actually it's not too bad. My mom just wanted to know if I could go to the family bar-b-queue in a couple days and I was wondering if you guys wanted to go."

"Wait, did your mother invite us?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, it was actually her idea," MacKenzie said.

"Sure, I don't see a problem with it. When is it?"

"In a couple days, I have to call her to get the final date," MacKenzie said.

"Wait! Isn't GHI coming in a couple days?" Grant asked.

"Yea!" Dave said.

"You know, they could come over as well. My mom loves cooking and probably won't mind," MacKenzie said smiling.

"Okay," Grant said shaking his head. "If you say so."

"Nothing bad is gonna happen," MacKenzie said. "The very worst that could happen is one of my uncles forgetting to pack underwear."


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note!**

_So here's the deal._

_I just wanna give a shout out to all who is reading my story. Especially to musicormisery4105, mikeysrevenge, whiteKnight15, werewolf666vampire, and RyneWWETNAFAN for commenting on it. Okay, so I just wanted you guys to know that I thank you. So THANK YOU! Haha._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

The next day, the crew woke up just before nine and started packing up there things. It was around eleven when they all were able to actually able to leave the hotel. MacKenzie drove home with Kris, who stole Steve and Dave's SUV, so they were stuck driving the utility van home. Joe tagged with Jason and Grant in their SUV.

"So, how was your swim yesterday?" Kris asked as they were pulled onto the highway.

MacKenzie smirked a little knowing that she knew that this conversation was unavoidable, "It was okay."

"Uhuh… Just keep acting like you didn't check Tango out," Kris said smirking as while. MacKenzie snorted at the comment.

"I did not check Tango out."

"That is the first step toward admitting that you are crushing on someone… Denial," Kris said following Jason into the other lane to pass an 18-wheeler.

"That's alcoholism!" MacKenzie said swatting Kris's arm in a playful manner. "I do not like Tango!"

"Yep… she's in denial," Kris muttered as MacKenzie rolled her eyes then paid attention to the traffic, which was slowly starting to get a little thicker.

It was around twelve when the two started talking again.

"So, are you ready for the family reunion?" Kris asked once again trying to start up a conversation with MacKenzie.

"Yeah," MacKenzie replied happily. "I absolutely love going to my family reunions. Even though, I really don't like my father side of the family."

"What? Why?" Kris asked now completely interested in the top of MacKenzie's family history.

"Well, my dad is of Irish/English decent and my mom is Spanish. Well, my dad basically raised my brothers because they were boys. When my mom had me, she didn't really want me to turn into a daddy's little girl but a mommy's little angel. So I was basically raised by her and my abuela. My dad's side really doesn't my mom and her side and since I was raised by them they really dislike me," MacKenzie said trying to explain everything.

"Wow… that's confusing. So basically because you were raised by your mom's side, your dad side hates you? Well, that's stupid," Kris said wrinkling up her nose.

"I know," MacKenzie said shrugging her shoulders.

Once again the two fell silent. Only a couple minutes later, they arrived back in Warwick.

"Okay. Let's unpack and then we can all go home again," Jason said opening the doors to the utility van.

Everyone grabbed something and took it down to the basement where their equipment station was. It only took about half an hour to unpack everything.

"Okay guys. See you tomorrow!" MacKenzie said grabbing her duffle bag from the SUV and put them into her car.

"See ya!" the guys and Kris shouted back as MacKenzie turned on her car. She pulled out of the parking lot and drove back to her home, a little afraid at what she might find. She didn't know if her brother's burnt it down to the ground or did something even worse.

She pulled into her driveway and walked into her house. It wasn't as bad as thought it was going to be, even though blankets were everywhere, the garbage was overflowing, and the dishes were piling up over onto the kitchen counter.

"Guys! I'm home!" MacKenzie shouted.

She then heard stumbling and basically a huge struggle upstairs. Nick and Nate came running down the stairsand then smashed right into her.

"Thank you Lord!" Nick shouted squeezing MacKenzie.

"Yes, thank you Lord!" Nate agreed.

They continued squeezing her till she couldn't breathe any longer, "I love you guys but I also love breathing, so could you like, LET GO!" she shouted.

"Sorry," they said in unison as they got up off the floor. They then walked into the living room and turned on the TV, leaving MacKenzie lying in the middle of the foyer.

"Oh, hey!" Matt said walked into the house from the back door. "When did you get home?"

"Just a couple minutes ago," MacKenzie said slowly getting up off the floor. "Question,"

"Shoot," Matt said opening the fridge door.

"When are Mom and Dad having the family reunion?" MacKenzie asked moving her duffle bag out of the way.

"In four days, why?" Matt asked walking in holding a can of Diet Pepsi.

"Because GHI is coming in a couple days I was just hoping that it wasn't when the family reunion was gonna happen because then that would mean that the guys wouldn't be able to come," MacKenzie said.

"Wait! Mom invited your co-workers to the reunion?" Matt asked nearly spitting his Pepsi all over MacKenzie.

"Well yeah."

"Is she insane?!" Matt asked.

"I don't believe she is," MacKenzie said then went upstairs carrying her bag with her.

She walked into her room and started unpacking her bag, putting the dirt clothes into the hamper in her bathroom, and all the bathroom supplies in her connecting bathroom. She then shoved her bag into the closet.

"I heard you were home," someone said behind. MacKenzie spun around, nearly gave herself whiplash, to see Sam standing in her bedroom's doorway.

"Yea," MacKenzie said smiling.

"So, did she really invite your co-workers to the reunion?" Sam asked looking at her.

"Yea. What's the big deal?" MacKenzie asked staring at Sam.

"You know how the reunion usually goes. You usually end up beating the shit out of one of our cousins," Sam said looking at her.

"Well, it ain't my fault! She's the one that usually starts the stupid shit!" MacKenzie said. "Besides, for the sake of my job, I promise I'll try to keep my cool for the night."

"Okay… that's all we ask," Sam said then left MacKenzie in her room alone.

"This will be one long day," MacKenzie predicted as she sat down in front of her computer and turned it on.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note!**

_So here's the deal._

_I just wanna give a shout out to all who is reading my story. Especially to Yuki Hatashi, Alyssa Belikov, RachxSaxophonexTwilight, I'm the monster in your closet, musicormisery4105, mikeysrevenge, whiteKnight15, werewolf666vampire, and RyneWWETNAFAN for commenting on it. Okay, so I just wanted you guys to know that I thank you. So THANK YOU! Haha._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

MacKenzie woke up at around 7:45 in the morning the next day. She had fallen asleep around eleven the night before.

She walked into her bathroom and quickly got ready for work. She showered and changed into a pink Paramore T-shirt, a pair of faded jeans, and her black and pink converses. She put her hair up into a high ponytail and brushed her teeth.

She walked back out into her room and was about to walk out of her room when…

"Boo!" Nick screamed. That scream made MacKenzie scream her head off, making him and Nate laugh their heads off.

"My God, Nick! Don't do that!" MacKenzie shouted at him after she calmed down. She swatted his arm then walked out of her room, with the devilish duo following her chanting "Feed me! Feed me! Feed me!" all the way to the kitchen.

MacKenzie grabbed a cereal box, some bowls and spoons, and got some milk out of the fridge. She then sat down handing the bowls to her brothers.

"But we want omelets!" Nick said in a childish voice. He folded his arms over his chest and pouted like the little five year old kid he was.

"Yea!" Nate agreed as he also did the same.

"I don't feel like making you anything!" MacKenzie said and then sat down. She started eating her cereal.

"Good morning, MacKenny," Matt said as he and Sam walked in.

"Why are they sulking?" Sam asked as he grabbed the cereal box and started pouring himself a bowl.

"MacKenny isn't making anything for us to eat," Nick and Nate said in their creepy unison mind reading way.

"It's her choice," Sam said and then took a bit of his cereal.

"See you guys later!" MacKenzie said putting her bowl in the sink, which was now empty. She grabbed her car keys and her light jacket, then walked out of the house as her brothers chorused their good-byes and see yas.

MacKenzie walked down the sidewalk, minding her own business when a random car pulled up beside her. She looked over to see Dave Tango wave at her.

"Hey!" she said smiling as he rolled down the passenger window.

"Do wanna ride?" he asked looking at her.

"Um… sure," MacKenzie said and climbed into his car. She belted up and pulled back onto the road.

"So I'm guessing you live not too far away from here," Dave said smirking. "Considering that you are walking to work."

"Yeah, just a couple blocks away," MacKenzie answered. "I usually walk when I don't feel like driving to work. I mean there is exercise there and I ain't wasting any money on gas."

"Plus it helps the environment," Dave said pulling into the parking lot of TAPS.

"True to that," MacKenzie said smiling as Dave turned off his car. They stepped out and walked over to the basement doors. Dave pulled them open, again true to his word, they swung open like he said they would the first day she worked here.

They walked into the building, which was completely empty besides all the equipment.

"So, how's your ankle?" Dave asked watching MacKenzie walk. She was still limping slightly but it stopped hurting her, so stopped wearing the ankle wrap.

"It's better. It doesn't hurt anymore," MacKenzie replied sitting down in the spinning office chair. "I stopped wearing the ankle wrap when we were in Massachusetts."

"That's good," Dave said sitting down in one of the other spinning office chairs.

MacKenzie sighed. Sure, it was 8:30 in the morning and the work day had just begun but she was already bored.

"I'm bored," she said stating the obvious. She was so bored that not even spinning the office chair was easing her boredom. "Entertain me."

"Why me? Why can't you entertain me?" Dave asked looking at her spin in circles with un-amused looked on her face.

"Because I asked you first!" MacKenzie said in a playful defensive tone.

"What should I do?" Dave asked, once again.

"I don't care! Just do something that will entertain me!" MacKenzie shouted in a drawled out way, indicating that she was extremely bored.

"Okay… then let's see who can spin the most," Dave suggested looking at MacKenzie. She had stopped spinning the chair and had her head back, so that all that Dave could see was the bottom of her chin and her neck.

"Okay, but I will say this. You will get your ass kicked," MacKenzie said pointing her finger at him. She smirked and sat straight in the chair.

"Whatever, you say MacKenny," Dave said in a 'I'm so gonna beat you' voice. "On your mark, get set, GO!"

The two started spinning at the same time. It was almost like seeing two tornadoes.

After about a minute MacKenzie started feeling the effects of the spinning, "Oh God, I'm super dizzy right now."

Dave just laughed and went on his merry way with spinning his office chair, "All I can say, is that you are doing a sucky job at kicking my ass."

"Hey, I never said it was gonna be good," MacKenzie shot back.

In the end it was actually MacKenzie who gave up first.

"I told you, you did a sucky job at kicking my ass," Dave said smirking a little as MacKenzie put her head between her knees, trying to make the dizziness subside.

"Shut up!"

"So what's the trophy?"

"What?" MacKenzie was completely confused. "What do you mean by trophy?"

"Doesn't the winner usually get a trophy? I mean what kind of winner doesn't get a trophy?" Dave said still smirking a little.

"Well, the kind of winner you are," MacKenzie said smirking back at him.

"Well, that sucks," Dave said no longer smirking. He cruised his way of to her since spinning his chair seemed to have moved a little way from the table to a more open area. "I guess I'll just have to take it then."

MacKenzie was, once again, confused like hell, "What?"

Suddenly, it was like Dave was only centimeters apart from her, "I said I guess I'll just have to take it." He started leaning in a little more.

"Hey guys!" Grant's voice said as he entered from the back door.

Dave flew back and in that momentum cause the chair to flip, carrying him with it. MacKenzie couldn't help but laugh like crazy as Dave hit the floor.

"What's Dave doing on the floor?" Jason asked as he walked in behind Grant.

"Um… we were seeing who could spin the most and he got so dizzy that he tipped over his chair," MacKenzie said still laughing at him as he struggled to get in the rightward position.

"Yeah, MacKenny, keep laughing. I would like to see you try and get back up after being so dizzy," Dave said twisting his body so that he could now get up without killing himself.

"Okay, guys, you can stop jerking off and get to work," Jason said, causing the two to sigh, once again.


	17. Chapter 17

OH MY GOD! I actually updated my Dave Tango story! It's almost been a year since I did it! But I have to thank xxKenzieCheerxx for the message that inspired me to start writing again and ShellyStark.

NOW BEGIN!

* * *

The rest of the day was really awkward between MacKenzie and Dave. I mean, MacKenzie didn't know what the hell was going on when Dave thought he was pulling a fast one, which he wasn't. MacKenzie definitely wasn't gonna argue with him, I mean who couldn't resist his charms?

"MacKenny. MacKenzie. MACKENZIE!" someone shouted, interrupting her thoughts that were replaying the fateful scene over and over in her head.

"Huh? Oh! Uh… sure, yeah… whatever," MacKenzie said trying to cover up the fact that she wasn't paying attention to the conversation at hand.

"Well, obviously you weren't paying attention," Grant said. "You just agreed to have sex with a monkey."

"You know what! Maybe I want to have sex with a freaking monkey! I'll even name our freaking monkey child Billy Bob Jim Joe Johnson!" MacKenzie said covering up the fact that she wasn't paying attention and that she didn't know that she was agreeing to have sex with a freaking monkey.

"Nah! I'm just joking, but seriously… pay attention," Grant said.

MacKenzie nodded and looked over at Dave, who was also snapped out of his own dream world. She sighed and tried to pay attention, but soon after she did, she was back into her dream world thinking about what happened earlier that day.

'_Was he seriously gonna kiss me? Or was he just leading me on? I mean he isn't half bad looking… Okay! He's not even half… Okay! He's not bad looking at all. But what could he see in me? I'm just an average girl… nothing extraordinary about me_ –'

"MacKenzie!" Jay shouted, once again, breaking my train of thought.

"What?" she said, looking at him. To be honest, she was starting to get intimidated. Jason was standing over her, and he was like twice the size of her.

"Would you like to share with the class what you're thinking about?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh…no," she said, sinking down in the spinning chair. Have you ever sunk down in a swivel chair, it's extremely hard.

Everyone just looked at her, "Seriously, MacKenny. What's going on?" Grant asked.

"Nothing… I just have a lot on my mind. I'll pay attention now," she said.

"Thank you," Jason said and continued the speech again. MacKenzie was completely lost in the conversation, well, until he went onto the fact that GHI or Ghost Hunters International was gonna be coming in later that day or early tomorrow morning.

"Oh! I talked to my brothers last night and they said that the family bar-b-que was in four days… Well, three now." MacKenzie said.

"Okay, what are we gonna do about the GHI crew?" Steve asked. Clearly, everyone had that question in their mind.

"Like I told you guys before, my mom won't mind if they come along," MacKenzie reminded them.

"Okay, then we'll just tell them when they come in the states later," Jay said thankful that they cleared that up. "Are you sure that she won't mind?"

"I'm positive. She's used to having me bring a bunch of people along to these things. I personally don't find them really entertaining."

"So you're taking us along to suffer?" Dave said in mock sadness.

MacKenzie grinned at him, "It's only because I love you guys."

Kris raised her eyebrows at her and MacKenzie knew that she was in for another one of those all-info talks.

"Well, that's mainly it for the day. If you guys wanna hang here for a little while go ahead," Jay said. Grant was almost ready, wearing his jacket and car keys in hand.

"In a rush much?" MacKenzie asked.

"Me and the family have plans, since I was away. Just going out to dinner," Grant explained. MacKenzie's mouth formed an 'O' shape in an understanding.

"Well, you have fun then," she said smiling.

"Yep, we will. Have a nice day, guys and girls," he said and went out the building with Jay following him.

Everything went quiet between the five that were left in the room.

"Well, I'm gonna go home," Joe said standing up from one of the spinny chairs. He left the room, relieving himself from the awkward silence that had fallen upon the room.

"And then there were four," MacKenzie said in a dramatized voice.

Kris smirked and giggled a little at what she said, "Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry."

"Yea, so am I," Steve said. Dave just nodded in agreement.

"You coming?" Kris asked, giving MacKenzie a warning glare saying that if she won't come that she would somehow, someway find her and talk to her.

"Uh… I'm not really hungry right now," she said. "I'm just gonna chill here, if that's okay with you guys."

"We can always order Chinese," Dave suggested, not wanting to leave MacKenzie there by herself. Kris obviously understood what he was doing and instantly agreed with him.

"I don't care, as long as I get food," Steve said.

MacKenzie just shrugged. She didn't care whether she got food or not, as long as didn't have to move from the spinny chair in which she was sitting in.

"Then Chinese it is!" Kris said. "Steve, do you wanna call in the order? I have to use the restroom."

"Sure, what do you want?" he asked, getting up.

"Whatever MacKenny is having," Kris said simply then ran out of the room and down the hallway to the bathroom.

Steve looked at MacKenzie, who was slowly spinning side to side, looking at the ceiling with a distant look on her face. Dave was watching her with a worried look on his face.

"MacKenzie, what do you want?" Steve asked looking for the menu that somehow always disappears when they need it the most, like now.

"A pint of wonton soup with chives and sweet and sour chicken," she said. Her voice was distant, making Steve wonder what the hell was going inside her brain. He already knew that he missed something but now he was wondering what the hell he had missed.

"Tango?" he asked gaining the attention of the other member that was also worried about their newest member of the team.

"Uh… General Tso's Chicken, I guess. The larger portion," he said.

Steve shrugged and dialed the number on the menu, which he eventually found. He then left the room so he could hear the Chinese lady with the horrible accent.

Silence fell upon the room again.

"MacKenzie, are you okay?" Dave was the first to speak; worry was coated in his voice.

"Huh? Oh, yea. I'm fine," she said smiling softly at the man that had tried to kiss her earlier in the day. Thoughts about it still flooded her head and they probably weren't gonna leave anytime soon.

"Are you serious? It seems like something's bothering you," he said not buying anything that she just said.

"Eh, it's nothing that I won't get over soon," she lied again. She really did hate lying to him because deep down she did like the guy. She wished that no one had come in when they were that close because she wanted to know what the hell he was gonna do.

"Whatever you say, darling," he said, looking down at the floor.

MacKenzie glanced at him but didn't say anything back, knowing full well what he said.


	18. Chapter 18

I'M BACK! It's been how long? I'm sooooo sorry for those who are actually patient enough to wait for this chapter to come out, I didn't mean for it to be that long of a wait and I apologize profusely. I once again have someone to thank for getting to start writing again. This is someone happens to be **hydra350**.

Now, onto the story!

* * *

The next day, MacKenzie pulled into the parking in her black and red Mustang that she loved so dearly. The time on the clock read 8:52 Am, so she was in the clear for being late. Hollywood Undead was blaring out of her speakers, probably loud enough for everyone in building to hear.

Thoughts were still swarming in her head. She was currently running on only two and half hours of sleep because they wouldn't leave her alone. The same question ran over and over in her brain:_ Did he really want to kiss me?_

She turned off her car's ignition and got out, shoving her keys and cell phone in to the pockets of her baggy, black sweatpants.

She was surprised to find that the door was actually unlocked.

"Hello girly!" Kris said, way too perky for nine in the morning. Instantly, Kris knew that something was wrong, "Are you okay?"

MacKenzie just looked at her with a bland-look on her face. Not only did her attitude give off the fact that she wasn't okay, her clothes did too. Instead of the usual jeans and band T-shirt, she was wearing baggy black sweats with a grey wife beater. Her hair was tossed into a bun right after she dried it off. Eyeliner and mascara were the only things making her look lively this morning.

"I'm guessing not," Kris said sadly.

"Hey Kenzie," Steve said walking from the conference room. "Do you wanna meet the GHI team?" He didn't even wait on an answer. He just grabbed her wrist, practically dragging her along.

"Steve!" Kris yelled. MacKenzie was just too tired to care. Lack of sleep was never good on her; lack of sleep is never good on everyone, period.

She was pulled into the conference room and saw a lot more people there than usual. The only people she truly knew were Dave, Grant, Jay and Joe.

"Hey Kenz – Are you okay?" Grant asked. Even though she was the newest member didn't mean didn't care.

"Seriously," Dave replied, sitting straight up.

"Nah, I'm good. Just extremely tired, my brothers kept me up last night," she said, yawning in the middle of her explanation.

"ANYWAY! Introduction!" Steve said, giving MacKenzie the feeling that he really didn't care. As Steve ran off the names, MacKenzie sat down on a spinny chair, which happened to be next to Dave. She tried to focus on the international investigators' names but she was clearly not in the mental state to do even remember how to make a PB&J sandwich.

After a few minutes of a conversation that she really didn't feeling like participating in, Dave leaned over quietly, "Just close your eyes," he whispered.

MacKenzie looked at him with lazy eyes, "You sure?"

Dave nodded and, for some reason, MacKenzie trusted him more than anyone outside her family. She leaned back, getting comfy against the back of the chair. In no time, she was passed out.

When she came to, she found herself curled up in a little ball on the couch across the room. She groaned a little and then stretched out her muscles, making some of her cramped joints crack.

"Nice nap, Sleeping Beauty?" Jason asked when he realized that she was awake. He was sitting in across the room in his office that he shared with Grant.

"How long was I out?" MacKenzie asked, feeling guilty for even falling asleep in the first place.

"Considering it's nearly one in the afternoon," Jay said laughing a little.

"Oh God. I'm sorry," she said sincerely. She never meant to sleep in that late. She only meant to sleep for an hour, not a 4 hour nap.

"MacKenzie, it's okay. You ain't in trouble. It happens to the best of us," Grant said smiling, rolling his spinny chair over to the door where he could see the youngest member of TAPS.

"So, how did I wind up on the couch?" she asked, sitting up. She felt her bun go limp and just took it out, leaving her brown curly hair fall down messily over her shoulders.

"Dave carried you over before he and everyone went to lunch. We didn't really wanna go and plus we didn't want you to wake alone," Jay replied.

MacKenzie formed an 'o' shape with her mouth and looked around the room. It was just her in the room, with her two bosses looking out at her from their shared office. She was a little sad that Dave didn't say behind but then again the GHI crew was here too, so she had no right to complain.

"May we ask exactly what you're brothers were doing to keep you up all night?" Grant asked leaning back a little, while crossing his leg over the other.

"They were just being themselves," MacKenzie replied. "Playing loud music all night to irritate me, jumping on me when I was almost asleep, etc. etc. etc," she listed off all the stupid things that her idiotic but loveable brothers did to her the night before.

"Damn, that sucks," Jason said frowning a little. Anyone could see that she went through hell and back with those boys but they could also see that she would do it a million times over, as long as they were together.

"So you guys still coming to the bar-b-que?" she asked hopefully. She really did want them to go. Not only to distract her from her father's family but because she wanted to introduce them to her parents. Even though, they probably would never meet again, her family was extremely important to her and she wanted her family to meet her recently extended family.

"I still don't see a problem with it. Are you sure your mother can handle everyone?" Grant asked still a little concerned about the whole idea.

"Yes, I'm sure she can. She raised my brothers and me, what's more the mix?" I said nonchalantly. "Besides it's only going to be you, Jay, Dave, Kris, Steve, Joe, and the GHI team, which only has four members."

As if on que, the other members walked in, talking and laughing loudly.

"Hey! You're up!" Kris said happily. "Now you can officially meet the GHI team."

MacKenzie smiled up at everyone since she was still sitting on the couch, with her legs stretched out in front of her. "Hello everyone," she said cheerfully.

"Much better," Joe said with a smile on his face.

"Seriously, you looked a like a zombie this morning," Dave said. She knew he wasn't joking because she definitely felt like one.

"That's what you get when you only allow MacKenzie O'Connor two hours of sleep," she said with shrug.

"Irish are you?" a man with a goatee said. Instantly she knew that he himself was Irish because of the unique accent that he had.

"Yes I am. My dad's side in fact," she said with a smile on her face. "He's half Irish, half English. Making me a quarter Irish," she stated proudly. She was always proud of the fact that she was a unique mix of European heritage.

The guy that spoke just nodded his head in response, "Barry Fitzgerald."

She smiled kindly at him, thankful that he actually introduced himself to her, since she couldn't remember his name from that morning. "MacKenzie O'Connor, as you heard earlier. Please call me MacKenny."

"MacKenny, that's a unique nickname," the only girl of the group stated. MacKenzie was always one for being different from the crowd and always took pride in being so.

"My brothers, I don't know which one exactly. Probably Sam," she said with a shrug.

"Big family, I assume," the girl questioned, more than stated.

"You won't even comprehend till you see it," she said. "Which I was hoping you guys would," she said hopefully looking at them.

The other guy with a bit more facial hair than Barry looked her with a confused look on his face, "Huh?"

"My family is having a bar-b-que and I was hoping that you guys would join with me and the others. My mother seriously wouldn't mind. In fact, she would probably enjoy that you guys are coming since she loves to cook and entertain people."

"I don't see a problem with it," the other male said. He was obviously younger than all the other's. He was about the same age as the girl.

"Okay, but before you guys go, I still have to learn your names because as Tango said, I was the undead this morning," MacKenzie explained, a little embarrassed by the fact that she hadn't retained anything this morning.

"Okay, but only because you were a zombie," the girl said with a smirk on her face. "I'm Amy Bruni."

MacKenzie nodded her head in acknowledgement and then turned to the man with all the facial hair.

"Robb Demarest," he introduced himself, holding out his hand for her to shake. She took it and gave him a feminine, but firm handshake.

"Adam Berry," the last and final guy said with a smile on his face. He also held out his hand for the young investigator to shake.

"Okay, now that I know all your names, mine is MacKenzie O'Connor, for the millionth time," she said with a smile on her face. She slowly stood up, avoiding getting that dizzy spell that people get when they stand up too fast. "I'm probably gonna go out to eat or get so fast food, because I'm like starving at the moment."

"Should I join you?" Tango asked. MacKenzie looked at him, debating if she should let him go or not.

"You don't have to," she said, but secretly she hoped that he would.

"I'm still going anyway," he said persistently.

"Okay, then. But we're walking because we're awesome like that," she said with a smile on her face.

Dave just shrugged his shoulders and then followed her as she led the way out into the daylight of Warwick, Rhode Island.


End file.
